The Christmas Gift

Today is Christmas. It is a day to celebrate. Part of that for many is the giving of gifts. And one reason for that is the fact that what we celebrate today is God's gift to us in Jesus. What I’d like to do today is help you see that gift a little more clearly so that you can enjoy it a little more. Our text is Mark 1.9-11.

So, what’s going on? Here is Jesus. He is about to start his ministry. And he does that by being baptized by his cousin John. What happened to him was just like what happened to so many others whom John baptized - that is, until Jesus hears the voice. It's the voice of his Father. And by that I don't mean Joseph, but his heavenly Father. Jesus' Father speaks to him at the beginning of his ministry. 'You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.' There are many things going on in those few words. But we are so familiar with them that getting to really hear them is a bit of a challenge. So, let's consider our text a bit at a time so that we can take a more careful look.

First, there is this: 'You are my Son.'  In one sense, this is a simple statement of fact. Jesus is God’s Son. And yet, behind this simple statement there is the reminder of a bond. Here is a father reminding his son who he is. 'You are no orphan trying to make his way in this world all on his own. You are my son.' Jesus knows this, but it is still good for him to be reminded of it. There is something to be said for being reminded of what we know. It can be very encouraging. And what better time for this to happen to Jesus. He is about to begin what promises to be three very difficult years. This is a really good time for his Father to remind him whose Son he is. Jesus needs to feel the emotional lift that goes with having a father, this Father. Life is going to get hard, but Dad is still near. That's good for any son to remember.

Then there is the word 'beloved'. 'You are my beloved Son.' That's a great word, except for the fact that we don't use it anymore. And that makes it an archaic word that has lost much of its punch. So, let's re-translate what the Father has said to Jesus. 'You are my Son, and I love you.' The connection between father and son here is so much more than simply some genetic bond of being family. This father loves his son, and he wants him to know that. Again, Jesus had no doubts about this. He knows this, but he needs to hear it again.  If you remember that Jesus is human just like you are, then the Father's reminders of love makes sense. And who will rebuke a father for telling his son too often that he loves him?

Now, why does the Father love the Son? Is it ‘just because’, or did Jesus do something to gain this love? From one perspective, it doesn't really matter. And yet, if truth be told, it's probably a little of both. The Father loves his Son 'just because'. It's what good fathers do. But it's also that Jesus has loved his Father for the last thirty years. That's what his perfect obedience was: an expression of love for his dad. So, just because and also as a response to his Son's love, the Father reminds him of his own love.

This leaves that last phrase: 'in you I am well-pleased'. And again, we have archaic language. How often do you say, 'I am well-pleased'? We don’t use it because it feels a little stiff, a little formal. What comes to my mind is the stereotypical British lord having a formal interview with some faithful subordinate. But that's not what's going on at Jesus' baptism. Another Bible translation has this as, 'I delight in you.' That's a bit better, but it’s still not warm enough. So, taking a measure of liberty, let me suggest a different way of expressing this idea of 'well-pleased'.  'Whenever I think about you a smile comes to my face. I am so glad that you are my son.' I think that that gets it a bit better.

All of this is quite remarkable. We are privileged to get a little bit of a peek into this very personal relationship between Jesus and his Father. We have not stolen this peek. They have allowed us to see it. No walls. There is something beautiful here: a father who loves his son and isn't afraid to say so because he knows his son needs to hear him say it.

Now, it's time to see what this has to say to you - though I could stop here and there would be more than enough for you to meditate on. Last week I referred to Martin Luther's very helpful phrase 'the Great Exchange'. Let me briefly go over that again for any who weren't here last Sunday. There has been a Great Exchange between Jesus and us. We all are horrible sinners. You'll remember that last week I quoted this from Genesis: 'The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.' That describes us. And because of that, God should be incredibly angry at us. It would be one thing if we sinned by accident, if we slipped up once in a while. But that's not what happens. That verse isn't about some occasional slip into sin. It accurately describes everyone's basic orientation. We deserve God's holy anger for our rebellion. But in the Great Exchange, it's Jesus who suffers the just rage of God that our rebellion deserves. That's what the Cross is about. Now, put that picture of Jesus on the Cross suffering God’s justice next to the picture of Jesus' baptism that we just looked at. Something terrible happened to Jesus on that Cross. No more tender words of love and affection from the Father. No more, ‘You’re my Son and I love you.’ Only anger. For all the hours that Jesus spent on that Cross, God was no longer his loving Father. He was a very angry Judge. Jesus took on himself what we should be suffering. While Jesus was on that Cross, God hated his Son.

But now, let me remind you of the other side of the Great Exchange. Yes, Jesus got the Cross. But that means that you get a loving Father who speaks tender words of love and affection. He says to you, 'You are my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.' The Father speaks those words to you. And whatever he meant when he said them to Jesus at his baptism, he means the same thing when he speaks them to you. What did he tell Jesus? 'You are my Son, and I love you. Whenever I think about you a smile comes to my face. I am so glad that you are my Son.' He says all of that to you. All of the affection behind the words that he said to Jesus, he intends for you. All the joy that he has in his relationship with his Son, he has with you. This is not a metaphor or some symbolic language or a way of talking about something that is kinda, sorta similar to what Jesus enjoyed. Jesus heard words of love from his Father. The same words are spoken to you and with the exact same meaning. The Great Exchange.

I do not blame you if you're having a hard time believing what I just said. 'The Father loves me and enjoys me just as he loves and enjoys Jesus? That can't be.' But it is. You get to enjoy what it means to have God as your Father in the same way that Jesus enjoyed having God as his Father. Isn’t that what Jesus meant when, at the tomb, he said this to Mary? ‘Go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father."’ Jesus’ Father is your Father because of what he did on that Cross. So, consider what that means. At any moment in your life, your Father can - and does - say, 'Whenever I think of you, a smile comes to my face. I'm so glad that you are mine. I love you.'

This is so hard for people like us to believe because we are so used to meeting conditions. Time and again, we remind ourselves that people, family – God himself! – will be good to us, will love us, if… While that may be true of how other people deal with you, it isn't true of your Father. There are no conditions for you to meet. None. Jesus has met them all. The Father loves you.

As your heart comes to believe this, comes to trust this truth, life changes. So, consider your sin. What's the common thought here? What do so many Christians tell themselves?

When I sin, when I've blown it, God becomes less a father to me and more a judge. He may not become an angry judge, but at the least he becomes a judge who is annoyed with me. Instead of a smile there's a scowl. He's fed up with me. And who can blame him. Look at what I've done.

Is that you? Am I a little bit close? But let's ask the important question. Is it true? Does God switch hats from loving Father to annoyed Judge because of your sin? Is the relationship that he has with you based on how well you do? Is that how it works? Absolutely not! Even when we have done something really stupid, our Father's attitude to us is the same. 'I love you. Whenever I think about you a smile comes to my face. I'm so glad you're mine.' This is the Father's attitude to all of his children all of the time.  It doesn't matter what you do. The Father's love for you never changes. Never. Even when you've done something really bad, the Father's attitude to you is the same. He loves you in the same way that he loves Jesus.

Sad to say, there are some Christians who get very nervous when they hear things like this, when preachers tell their congregations that God loves them regardless of what they do. These folk say that this will just encourage laziness and disobedience. People won't care about pleasing God and doing the right thing. It will lead to chaos and sin. Or, to translate that, they are saying that if a preacher is going to get his people to obey, what he needs to do is threaten them with dire consequences. 'If you aren't careful how you live you're going to mess up. And then, God won't love you.' 

Well, the Gospel disagrees. And a good thing too, because there is no way that we can obey well enough to meet God's standards of holiness. We sin. We do that all the time. And so, we're good at it, really good at it. But Jesus has come for sinners like us. And because of him, we get a Father who loves us all the time with a love that is, quite frankly, beyond what we understand. We get a Father who is so glad that we belong to him. And his love for us does not change even though we still do some pretty stupid things.

I know that believing this in the details of life, down in the deep recesses of your heart, is hard. So, here are some things to do to help you see more clearly this fact of the Father's love. 

The next time the Spirit points out some sin to you, right before you offer up your prayer of repentance, do this. At that moment, remind yourself that your Father in heaven has a smile on his face. He is not annoyed with you or anything like that. He's thinking, 'I love you, and I'm so glad that you're mine.' Remind yourself of that when you're at your worst and feel as if he should be really mad at you. Because of Jesus, all the anger is gone. There isn’t even any annoyance. All that is left is his love – all the time. 

Here's another thing that you might do. The next time you get ready to pray, before you start, remind yourself whom you are going to be talking to. Remind yourself that the person on the other end of that conversation is your smiling Father.

Ultimately, it will take the Spirit's work of changing your heart to get you to believe these things as fully as you might. But I think that he can use little exercises like these to do that.

Christmas is about celebrating. It's about celebrating Jesus. He has come to give us a great Christmas gift: a Father whose love for us is amazing. It is a love that we will be enjoying for all of eternity. So, on behalf of Jesus, let me wish you a Merry Christmas.